Physical Science

A little over a month ago in late November, the attention of specialists and layman alike were drawn to the African country of Namibia. The Namibian government announced the uncovering of a small metal rounded object which in fact had…
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Picture a lovely river valley, with high alpine peaks on either side.  Trees and broken meadows fill in a patchwork of the view. If a view of a landscape stays relatively the same over observable time, people can think of this…
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What would happen if a significantly large asteroid was discovered to be on a collision course with the earth? If nothing could be done to stop it, the results would be devastating. In days of old, the disappearance of the…
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An explosion that happened about 7.5 billion years ago was witnessed by a NASA satellite, marking the most distant explosion ever to be seen. Occurring over more than half the distance of the entire known universe, the gamma ray explosion…
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The universe; the place we call home; both friendly and at times downright deadly. The huge number of dangers surrounding us at this very moment is mind boggling to think about. But even as we are frightened by the threat…
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During the year of 1908 the quiet Siberian countryside was rocked by a blast more powerful than the atomic detonation set off over Hiroshima. In literally seconds, 800 square miles of virgin forest lay splintered and flattened in the Tunguska…
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Physics. To some people, the subject brings chills down their spines:  long hours of brain- wracking word problems with too many given values to use and too many unknown ones to find. To other people, the subject sparks excitement, imagination,…
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The production of aircraft engines requires very special materials to meet stringent quality standards and specifications. Operating at high altitudes and high speeds, and subject to many vicissitudes of nature such as cyclones, snow etc these engines have to be…
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Following up on the near-loss of the Hayabusa I mission in 2003-10, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) will be sending Hayabusa 2 to collect samples from an asteroid in 2014. The name “Hayabusa” means “peregrine falcon” in Japanese. Mission…
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NASA’s Discovery Program is a set of low-cost, focused scientific space missions that are designed to explore the Solar System, generally, but not solely, centered on planetary bodies. However, for example, other Discovery Program missions include “Genesis,” a mission to…
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